GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (GRPS) — Grand Rapids Board of Education Trustee Arick Davis has been honored with the West Michigan Center for Arts + Technology (WMCAT) Award for Inspiration. 

Davis was a student in WMCAT’s first Teen Arts + Tech Program class, a tuition-free afterschool experience available for GRPS high school scholars. Davis gained the confidence, creative ambition, and community connection as a teen that manifest in his life today. 

“If it wasn't for WMCAT being there, I don't know where I would be at right now,” Davis said in a video that played during the celebration. 

Davis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Last Mile Cafe in Grand Rapids and was elected to the Board of Education in November 2024. 

“I think WMCAT was definitely a window for me,” Davis explained. “It allowed me to see into things, it showed me how things work, it sparked that curiosity and then gave answers to that curiosity.”